Page 114 of Cherry on Top

“I know. I know,” Oliver said. “But she’s my mom.” He paused. “With your mom.”

“Believe me, nobody was more surprised than me. And if you want my advice, just don’t . . .think about that part very hard.”

Oliver barked a laugh. “Probably easier for me, since I found out different than you.”

“Probably. But I got the impression they’re not wanting to hide it anymore. So I can’t guarantee what you’re going to see in the future.”

“I know,” Oliver said with a short groan. Then he smiled and glanced over at Enzo. “I guess it’s good we didn’t end up together.”

It was good—so good, finally—that they could both joke about this. It had taken a lot of years and two happy relationships. Though it wasn’t like Enzo had been pining after him, before he’d met Will. He’d long since acknowledged that he and Oliver had been doomed from that first date. Probably even before.

“Yeah,” Enzo agreed. “You talk to Luca about this?”

Oliver shot him a look. “What do you think?”

“I think if you have the kind of relationship I wanna have with Will, then yeah, you told him.”

“He actually told me to come talk to you about it,” Oliver admitted.

“Yeah?” Enzo was more pleased about that than he’d thought he would be.

“He said you’d get it. And I guess you would. I think he probably knew that I was overreacting.”

“If there’s one thing a Moretti knows about, it’s overreacting,” Enzo said.

Oliver laughed, lighter than he’d sounded since he’d arrived.

“Listen,” Enzo continued, “it’s easier for me. My dad never really existed for me. My mom never dated anyone else. Not that I knew about anyway.”

“Might’ve been good for her—and you—if she had,” Oliver observed.

And yeah, that was true. Enzo nodded. “It’s not like I told her not to. You don’t tell a Moretti to do anything,” he said.

Oliver smiled. “Being married to one, I’m intimately aware of that. And I told Joy that she could date, of course. Dad’s been gone for ten years. I don’t want her to be alone forever, that’s not it at all. It’s just . . .an adjustment.”

“Yeah, it is. But a good one.” Enzo hadn’t realized that he thought so until he said it. Until he was worried that Oliver would say the opposite.

“You really mean that.”

“Yeah. I do.”

“Ugh.” Oliver wiped a hand across his face. “I’m being very stupid, aren’t I?”

“I don’t know. I think you’re allowed to be once in a while. And you basically never were, before.”

“You’re saying it’s my turn, Moretti?” Oliver asked wryly.

“Sure.”

“I can agree with that. But I do think yeah, it’s the way I have to think of it differently. Think of her differently.”

“She’s still your mother. She’s never gonna stop being your mother,” Enzo reminded him firmly.

“Oh, no, no. I know that. I just . . .with your mother.” Oliver shuddered a little. “I guess I didn’t think of her like . . .like a sexual being.”

“Please don’t. I’m begging you not to keep going down that road. I keep trying to stop myself from doing it.”

“Alright. I think that’s fair.”

---